“Tana is one of the few knowledge management tools that moves beyond mimicking static text on paper. It takes the computational medium seriously. It gives regular folks access to a set of powerful primitives that previously only developers could touch.”Maggie Appleton
Product designer
Tana for PKM
Personal knowledge management. Our foundation.
Everything in Tana is built with the PKM community as our pillars. The Tana Graph, our Supertags, and Tana AI.
What is personal knowledge management (PKM)?
PKM is how you capture, organize, and actually use what you learn, instead of letting it disappear into a folder you'll never open again. It's the system you build to collect ideas, connect them together, and find what you need when you need it.
In Tana, PKM lives on top of an AI-powered knowledge graph. Your notes, tasks, projects, and references all stay connected, not scattered across apps or buried in documents.
Why Tana is built for PKM
Everything in Tana starts from how knowledge workers actually think. The core building blocks, the graph, supertags, and AI, are designed to handle the full PKM loop:
- Capture ideas, highlights, and tasks in fast daily notes
- Connect them with links, supertags, and fields so context is never lost
- Resurface them through search, queries, and views that bring the right stuff back at the right time
- Think with your notes using AI that understands your graph, not just a flat page
Instead of stitching together a note app, a task manager, and a "second brain" template, Tana gives you one system that grows with your thinking.
Experience the next level of Zettelkasten
The Zettelkasten method is built on two simple ideas: small, atomic notes (one idea each) that link to each other to form a web of thinking. Niklas Luhmann used his 90,000-note slip box to write 70 books and nearly 400 scholarly articles. Not bad for index cards.In Tana, every bullet is already a node in your graph, so you get a native Zettelkasten without extra setup. Atomic notes, backlinks, emergent structure... it's just how Tana works.But supertags let you go further than plain links. You can mark a note as a #concept, #source, #claim, or #question, then query and view those notes in different ways. Community templates like Theo's SN(A)CK system give you a Tana-first Zettelkasten that unifies sources, notes, and creations in one setup.
“I have been using note-taking apps for over a decade. Starting from Notepad, moving to Microsoft Word, Evernote, Gdocs — I've used them all. Then came the era of outliners like Roam, markdown extensible apps like Obsidian, and database-centric Notion. All this while, I felt like something was missing. I wanted a way for data to be easily retrievable, customisable, and yet easily queried intuitively. I found it all in Tana — I can't believe I've waited so long for something like this.”Winston Teng
Doctor
Getting things done has never been easier
GTD is David Allen's system for getting everything out of your head and into a system you trust. Five steps: Capture, Clarify, Organize, Reflect, Engage.Tana makes GTD feel natural: You capture into daily notes or a quick inbox; clarify with task supertags, fields, and clear next actions; organize using views, filters, and project contexts; reflect through saved searches and weekly review dashboards; engage with tasks that surface alongside the notes and references they depend on.The nice part? Tasks live right next to your knowledge, not in a separate app you have to keep in sync.
Tana + PARA = a true second brain
Tiago Forte's PARA method organizes everything by actionability, not topic: Projects → Areas → Resources → Archives. Most actionable first, reference material last.
Tana's graph and supertags map perfectly onto PARA:
- Projects as supertagged nodes with goals, tasks, and deadlines
- Areas as ongoing responsibilities with dashboards of active work
- Resources as articles, books, and notes linked to what they support
- Archives as completed work you can still find when it becomes relevant again
Start from a PARA template, then layer Zettelkasten-style notes and GTD-style execution on top. All in one graph.
What people actually do with Tana for PKM
Tana is where all the stuff in your head lands, and then turns into something useful. People use it for:
- Reading & research: Capturing highlights from books, articles, and Readwise, then connecting them to projects and writing
- Thinking & writing: Building idea networks that turn into articles, talks, videos
- Tasks & projects: GTD and custom task systems that keep work moving without a separate todo app
- Life OS / second brain: Combining PARA, GTD, and Zettelkasten into one system that actually works
All of this lives in the same graph. Your PKM isn't "just a notes library", it's tightly connected to the work you actually do.
Questions and answers
Can I keep work and personal PKM separate?
Yes. Use different workspaces or structures for work and personal life, and share specific nodes when it makes sense. Many people use Tana for personal PKM alongside other tools for team docs.
How is Tana different from Notion, Obsidian, or Roam for PKM?
Traditional note apps store documents or pages. Tana stores connected nodes in a graph. Supertags and fields let you treat the same information as a note, a task, or a project depending on context. Add AI that actually understands your graph, and your PKM stops being a passive archive.
Is Tana too complex for PKM?
Tana can be as simple or as powerful as you want. Some people use it as a straightforward outliner with a few tags. Others build elaborate systems with custom views and AI workflows. The complexity is opt-in, the basics are just bullets and links.
How hard is it to get started with PKM in Tana?
Start simple: A daily note and one or two supertags (#note, #task). That's it. You can layer on fields, views, and frameworks gradually. There are starter templates and community setups that help you skip the phase of "designing the perfect system".
Does Tana support Zettelkasten, GTD, and PARA?
All three, and you can mix them. Tana doesn't lock you into one framework. Run a pure Zettelkasten, a classic GTD setup, a PARA-based second brain, or a hybrid that fits how you actually work. Templates and supertags make it easy to adapt.
Can Tana really be my whole PKM system?
Yes. Tana is designed to be a complete personal knowledge management system: capture information, connect it with supertags and links, resurface it across projects, tasks, and writing. Many people have moved their entire PKM from Notion, Roam, Obsidian, Evernote or others into Tana.